Imitation

Peter's laying down reading a book on his back with his knees bent, just like me. After Ron took the picture, Peter said "Beep," like the camera's electronic noise. He's become quite interested lately with sitting like I do, often cross-legged on the floor, or cross-legged on a chair. His legs are so short that he can manage just to cross his ankles, but seems very happy with that. When he was younger, he seemed to be a random variation machine as he tried endlessly different combinations of movements, especially as he was trying to roll and then crawl. But one of the things I notice is how much Peter has has learned by imitation. He surprises us with these little gifts every few days. For a few months now, he has been placing his socks and shoes on top of his feet; then, a few weeks ago, he put his feet into Ron's size-9 slippers. Last week, he took my keys and pressed them against the porch doorknob and then tried to turn it. Yesterday, he put his hat on before going outside. Then, after watching me prune off last year's flower stalks from some of the perennials, he pinched the pruners and started poking at the lavender with them. (Are you thinking, What? She let a 13-month-old play with pruning shears? I did, with very, very close supervision.) Ron noticed a few days ago that Peter had got out his two xylophones and placed them side by side and was playing them both. And he seems to be suddenly interested in books again, especially ones with realistic drawings. Yesterday, he said "Kitty" while looking at a book with cat pictures. We can see that he's slowly learning that things have functions and similarities.